


Misspoke

by afteriwake



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, One-Sided Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, POV Molly Hooper, Post-Episode: s03e02 The Sign of Three, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 23:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5069215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was just a simple slip of the tongue. Really, she hadn’t <i>meant</i> to call him another man’s name. Especially that particular man’s name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Misspoke

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chitarra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chitarra/gifts).



> So a long while back my friend **Chitarra** gave me the brilliant prompt of " _Molly accidentally casually calls Tom 'Sherlock'_ " and I finally got around to answering it. This is kind of bittersweet and is my personal headcanon as to what took place between "The Sign of Three" and "His Last Vow" when Molly and Tom's engagement ended.

He was back.

She had hoped, for so long, that he would come back. Mycroft had kept details of his whereabouts very close to the vest, telling her early on that the fewer details she knew the better, for her own safety. So long as he hadn’t summoned her to his fortress or his office, or pick her up off the street she had been fairly sure that he was still alive, but not knowing the details had been hard on her. So she’d put it to back of her mind, moved on and forged a life for herself, relegating Sherlock to the thoughts she had when she was alone and could afford to speculate and worry.

But as time went on, the life she built for herself started to become something that she gave more of a focus to. Sherlock could take care of himself, she knew that, so she worried about him less, and she started to think more of her own life and her own needs. She was tired of being alone. She’d thought, perhaps, to wait for him, but would he want her? He never had before. And how long could she put her life on hold? A year? Two? More? How long was too long to wait for him? After a year she decided that it was time to live a life that she was happy with.

She let her friends set her up on dates, but nothing really clicked. It wasn’t that the men were bad, they just weren’t what she was looking for. She supposed she was still hung up on Sherlock. And then Meena introduced her to Tom and there was…well, it wasn’t an immediate click, but she liked him. He made her smile, even made her laugh a few times, and she felt comfortable around him. She felt better with him than she had with most of the other men, so when he asked her out for dinner after their coffee date she said yes. And it was as easy as that. Coffee led to dinner, which led to the cinema and a kiss goodnight, which led to a night at the ballet and then another date and another, and before she knew it she had a boyfriend who she actually quite liked.

And it was nice. It was really nice, to be in a normal relationship, with a normal man, and not have to worry that he was a psychopath or a sociopath. It was nice, even if at points she thought that something was missing, that something might not be there that should be there. But those thoughts didn’t come up often, and she managed to push them down when they did. For the most part she was happy. And when Tom proposed, she said yes without hesitation, pleased to know she had found someone she could be happy with for the rest of her life.

And then Sherlock had to come back, and he was on her mind again, more than he should be, more than he needed to be.

She was cooking dinner for her and Tom, thinking about her day, thinking about the conversation she had with Greg about John and Mary’s wedding and Sherlock’s role in it and how it could have been an even worse debacle than it was but it all seemed to have worked out in the end. She knew her wedding would be different; chances are Sherlock wasn’t going to be a part of her wedding party, much less in a position to give a speech. If Tom had his way, he probably wouldn’t even be a guest. That thought saddened her, to be honest. She cared for him, much more than she wanted to admit.

Much more than she should, if she was going to be brutally honest.

The door opened and she turned to look at Tom, pushing the thoughts out of her head. “Hi,” she said with a smile as he came in.

“Hi,” he said with a grin of his own, setting his things down. He came into the kitchen and moved behind her while she continued stirring the sauce for the chicken, embracing her from behind. He pressed a kiss into her hair. “How was your day?”

“Hectic,” she said. “I had five autopsies today, and one of them was rather complicated. I had to rush to get home on time.” He pulled away to look at her. “How was your day?”

“Long,” he said. “I just want to relax. “I was thinking dinner, telly, curling up in bed with you…”

She smiled at him. “That sounds like a good idea, Sherlock.”

He blinked at that. “What?”

Her eyes widened as she realized what she had said. “Tom, I—”

“You still care for him,” he said quietly, pinching the bridge of his nose. Molly pulled the saucepan off the heat and then leaned against the worktop, not wanting to look at him. How could she? He was speaking the truth. She did care for Sherlock. It was hard not to. And she wasn’t sure who she cared for more, Sherlock or Tom, but what had just happened had hurt Tom, she could tell, and nothing she could say would make it better. All she could do was simply nod. “More than me?”

“I…don’t know,” she said quietly. “I’m still trying to figure it out.”

He was quiet for a few minutes. “Maybe we should…spend some time apart. While you figure it out.”

“Maybe we should,” she said, wringing her hands together, twisting her engagement ring. She looked up and saw the look on his face, saw he looked…not heartbroken, not sad, just resigned. Maybe he had realized this long before she had. Maybe he’d known ever since Sherlock came back. “Tom, I’m sorry.”

“I know,” he said quietly. He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll go get some things and I’ll…go stay at Rupert’s for a while.”

“All right,” she said. She watched him turn and head to their bedroom and she shut her eyes as she hung her head. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. She was supposed to have a happily ever after, not this. She was going to lose Tom, and she wasn’t sure whether there could even be anyone there to take his place…no matter how much she would love for there to be. She might end up alone again, and it would be her own damn fault.


End file.
